Italy closes another chapter in Nigeria’s $1.3 billion oil scandal as top court clears prosecutors
Italy’s highest court has acquitted two prosecutors who led the failed corruption case against energy giants Eni and Shell over Nigeria’s controversial OPL 245 oil block, closing another chapter in one of Africa’s biggest and longest-running oil scandals.
Black News 
Italy’s highest court has acquitted two prosecutors who led the failed corruption case against energy giants Eni and Shell over Nigeria’s controversial OPL 245 oil block, closing another chapter in one of Africa’s biggest and longest-running oil scandals.
- Italy’s highest court acquitted two prosecutors involved in the failed Eni-Shell OPL 245 corruption case.
- The ruling overturns earlier convictions for allegedly withholding evidence from the defence.
- OPL 245 is one of Nigeria’s largest undeveloped offshore oil assets, estimated to contain billions of barrels of crude.
- The decision comes as Nigeria seeks to revive development of the long-delayed oil block and attract fresh investment into its energy sector.
The Court of Cassation overturned the convictions of Milan prosecutors Fabio De Pasquale and Sergio Spadaro, ruling that they committed no offence by allegedly withholding evidence during the prosecution of Eni, Shell and several former executives over the 2011 acquisition of OPL 245.
The decision marks the latest legal twist in a saga that has stretched across courtrooms in Europe and Africa for more than a decade and involved allegations of bribery, political influence and the control of one of Nigeria’s richest untapped oil assets.
The OPL 245 dispute centres on a 2011 deal in which Eni and Shell paid about $1.3 billion to acquire rights to the offshore oil block, believed to contain an estimated 9 billion barrels of crude oil.
Italian prosecutors had argued that a large portion of the money ultimately found its way to politicians, government officials and intermediaries. Eni and Shell consistently denied wrongdoing, insisting the payment was made to the Nigerian government.
In 2021, a Milan court acquitted Eni, Shell and all defendants in what had become one of the most closely watched corruption trials in the global energy industry.
Prosecutors later came under scrutiny themselves after defence lawyers accused them of failing to disclose evidence that could have supported the companies’ case.
A lower court convicted De Pasquale and Spadaro in 2024, and an appeals court upheld the ruling last year. Italy’s highest court has now overturned those decisions, effectively ending the criminal case against them.
The ruling further weakens the legal legacy of a case that was once seen as a landmark test of international anti-corruption enforcement in the oil industry.
The significance of OPL 245 goes beyond the courtroom for Nigeria. The block, one of the country’s largest undeveloped deepwater assets, has remained largely dormant for years as legal disputes and ownership battles stalled investment and development.
The prolonged uncertainty has prevented Nigeria from fully exploiting a resource that could help support future oil production at a time when Africa’s largest crude producer is battling declining output, theft, underinvestment and growing competition from newer oil provinces across the continent.
Recent developments suggest the country is finally trying to move beyond the controversy. Earlier this year, Nigerian authorities approved a framework that could pave the way for the disputed licence area to be divided into new assets for development by Eni and Shell, potentially unlocking billions of dollars in future investment and production.
The move reflects a broader push by President Bola Tinubu’s administration to attract fresh capital into Nigeria’s oil and gas sector after years of regulatory uncertainty and stalled projects.
While the latest court ruling does not erase the controversy surrounding OPL 245, it removes another legal cloud hanging over a case that has shaped debates about corruption, transparency and resource governance in Africa’s energy industry for more than a decade.
